Alumni

David Katz, class of 1980

I entered Ramsey High as a skinny, naive freshman in the fall of 1976 who wasn't sure if there actually was a pool on the third floor, and left four years later as a skinny, naive senior pretty certain that there wasn't.

I don't know how things currently work at RHS, but when I was there the cross-country and track runners ruled the school. Cheerleaders decorated our lockers before big meets, the prettiest girls wanted to date us, and big crowds attended our races. At least that's how I remember it.

Running at RHS has had a big impact on my life. Ramsey cross-country was traditionally the best in its league and a perennial leader in the country and state. As a freshman, I was in awe of the upper-class runners, particularly Roger Jones, who won the de facto high school national championship in the mile when I was a freshman. Plus, we won the state title when I was a junior. Being on the team, even though I wasn't in the top seven of the state championship squad, was a tremendous source of pride. I loved wearing my Ramsey letterman's jacket and was proud to be one of the cross-country captains my senior year.

My most memorable moment occurred in the fall of my senior year. We won our league cross-country championship and were favored to win the county championship, but we had a bad day and lost to Old Tappan. Their runners had matched up against ours, and they beat us by a few points. We were devastated. The following week was the state sectional meet, and if we ran well we'd qualify for states. But we'd need to beat Old Tappan, our rivals. To prevent the Old Tappan runners from keying off of our runners, Lou Molino, our coach (and a NJ legend), dug an old set of uniforms out of storage for us to wear. Instead of our familiar white tops with blue and gold accents and, notably, our names on the back. Instead, we'd be wearing gold tops with no names. On the starting line, we waited until the last minute to take off our sweats so the Old Tappan runners couldn't see what we were wearing. The gun went off and we sprinted to get a good position before heading into the woods. About a mile into the race, we pass the Old Tappan coach, who is screaming at his runners, "They're in gold!" We won that day.

I love the challenge, discipline, camaraderie and shared struggle of running. I've run many challenging events over the years, including Boston Marathons and the Mount Washington road race. My experiences at RHS laid the foundation for a lifelong love of running.

In 2010, I traveled with my family back to NJ for Thanksgiving. I was determined to say hello to Lou Molino, who I hadn't seen in years. I went back to RHS four or five times during the week hoping to see him but kept missing him. My last chance came on Saturday morning. With my whole family in the car and a long drive to Boston ahead of us, I gave it one last shot. My young daughter Emma came with me to the RHS football game. I knew he'd be there, and I finally found him. I gave him a hug and introduced him to my daughter. I thanked him for having such an impact on my life. He said he was recently thinking of me and my teammates. I figured he was simply saying that to make me feel good, but then he invited us up to his office to give me something. On his desk is a folder of newspaper clippings from my senior year cross-country season in 1979, which he said was one of his favorites. He gave me the folder and an RHS t-shirt, and when I got home I scanned the articles and emailed them to my teammates. It was the last time I saw him. He passed away the following year.

I received my bachelor's from Bucknell and my MBA from the University of Virginia. I have a great family with three awesome kids and a wife that I adore. These days I'm an SVP for a large technology consulting firm. I get to design software for large clients, which involves design, creative, technical, research, writing, analysis, empathy and presentation skills. RHS prepared me well for college and life, and I'm grateful.